North Nampa Residents Association (NNRA)

North Nampa Residents Association
PO Box 233
Nampa, Id 83653

Idaho Press Tribune
18 Apr 2001, page 4a

Renewal agency will focus
on area improvements

     NAMPA - A plan to help north Nampa residents improve their neighborhood has moved ahead of a proposal for a new bridge across Indian Creek.
     North Nampa Urban Renewal Agency board member Shirley Dean had prepared for a fight over the two ideas at the agency's regular meeting on Tuesday.
     "I'm going to stomp," she said. She had been concerned fellow board members would nix a $1.5 million north Nampa revitalization project in favor of the new bridge across Indian Creek from 3rd Street North.
     Dean did not have to stomp.
     The board studied a list of comments generated from an April 10 meeting between city officials and North Nampa Residents Association members. At that meeting, property owners adjacent to the proposed bridge site were adamant they would not sell or give up their property to make way for the bridge.
     City officials revisited the bridge concept -- which would have made 3rd Street North a through street from 7th to 16th avenues -- after concerns were raised about upcoming traffic congestion on 11th Avenue.

     "This is my humble opinion," Public Works Director Paul Raymond, who attended the neighborhood meeting, said to the board. "The bridge -- as a whole for the city of Nampa -- is a good project. But the bridge should not be on the table."
     Although Steve Tester. board chairman, said the bridge is worth a look in the future, renewal agency board members agreed work will not supersede the revitalization project. It will move forward to give property owners in a 30-block north Nampa target area new curbs, gutters and sidewalks in exchange for fixing up their properties.
     The timeline has been tweaked, however.
     The revitalization project had been scheduled to begin this summer, but is now on hold until spring 2002. There is still too much work to be done before construction can begin, Raymond said, even though the designs are 90 percent complete.
     When it does begin, the project's initial stage will be on a limited scale, compared to the original plan.
     Instead of two phases -- streets one year and avenues the next -- there will be four. And before that, there will be a trial run on a couple of streets to determine if the overall plan is workable.
     The most important thing area property owners must realize, Raymond said, is that the plan for their neighborhoods is not being put by the wayside.

Reprinted by permission of Idaho Press Tribune
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